Trust
by thewriterstory
Summary: "How do you do this?" "Do what?" "Recover when someone you have trusted for a long time stabs you in the back." "I don't know, I've never completely recovered." He replied with a faraway look. One-shot, no suggestive content, no slash. Not humanized. Hope you enjoy :)


I've got one-shot guys! Its not that long but I did what I could, so bear with me :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Penguins of Madagascar and other characters.

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_Summary:_

_"How do you do this?"_

_"Do what?"_

_"Recover when someone you've trusted for a long time stabs you in the back."_

_"The thing is… I don't know," He replied with a faraway look._

_One-shot, no suggestive content, no slash. Not humanized._

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Skipper opened the hatch to their habitat. No one down there. It was nearly sunset, they should've returned by now. He spun around, kicking the hatch to cover the hole and set his gaze on the clock tower. He could make out three figures huddled together near the edge. Skipper shook his head sadly and flipped over the fence, making his way to his boys.

Skipper was walking towards them from behind them. Kowalski had already sensed the vibrations from Skipper's barely audible footsteps and his muscles tensed.

Let me tell you the somethings that led to this point in time.

3 Months ago, three females were transferred to the zoo. Two penguins, one dolphin. One of the penguins was Rico's childhood friend. The dolphin was Kowalski's crush, Doris. The other penguin had been Private's neighbour when he was just a chick in another zoo. The three females had gotten along very well with the three recently mentioned commando penguins, with Doris and Kowalski falling in love.

Unfortunately, the males had also leaked out classified information without Skipper knowing. It turned out that all along they had been working for Hans and Blowhole, Skipper's two arch-enemies. They had both devised a cunning scheme which had trapped the four penguins and caused them a very bad physical and mental blow. The plan was devised in order to hurt Skipper the most, but in the end, the other three penguins were hurt and betrayed as their so-called friends had used them to gain the upper hand in their battles against Blowhole and Hans. The younger three were emotionally compromised too. Unfortunately, Skipper had to leave immediately to go to the PENGUIN base, to face the higher penguin authorities and also get scolded by them for being so careless and leaking out information. This resulted in the other three being left alone in the zoo without their leader's comfort or guidance.

So Skipper was approaching his three boys to talk for the first time after they rescued themselves from Blowhole's clutches.

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The tall guy sensed his leader approaching. "How do you cope with this Skipper?" He asked.

"With what Kowalski?" Skipper said, settling down on the floor next to the tall guy.

"Being betrayed by someone you're attached to." The tall guy clarified.

"What makes you think I know the answer to that?" Skipper asked, voice laced with a little bitterness and sorrow at the same time.

"Because you're the one who's ever gotten betrayed before. To mention a few people who've turned against you - Hans, Blowhole, and countless people that you've never talked about." Private replied, turning his head towards Skipper's direction.

"You're not affected by them, unlike us. You recover so easily and you seem to let go completely." Rico added in his own way of speaking, face buried in his hands. Skipper was surprised he actually spoke to him.

"Rico and I knew you when you were in the previous team, with Manfredi and Johnson. They had hidden many secrets from you but even when you find out, you just scold them for a day or two and let it go. When we see you three the next day, you act like nothing happened. They held things from you, you just brush it off.

"You never told us about Hans when he betrayed you too. The past seven years, have you told us anything? Anything at all? No, not even about Denmark, the incident which probably only you and Hans know about. I'm pretty sure he stabbed you pretty hard, but have you ever stumbled because of those "betrayals".

"Its so hard to move on for us, but you just went on with life, like no one ever betrayed you. It has been a week since they turned against us, and we can't wipe it out from our memory. You just-jus- moved on! Just like that!" Private shrieked, flailing his arms in the air.

By that time, all three of them had turned away from the edge and gathered in a circle facing Skipper. Skipper winced when he saw their reddened faces, all three of them had been crying for sometime.

"I don't know how I moved on from all those people who betrayed me…. I really don't..." He muttered softly, a stark contrast to his usual commanding tone.

"Ever since I joined this team, have you noticed-"

"That you never emotionally get attached to others?" Kowalski interrupted him.

"Yeah… that is what I was going to say… I've never trusted anyone else after _(INCIDENT DENMARK)_ other than you three. Its just that I was too tired of trusting, that I decided I can't invest anymore trust in others."

"You just have to move on. Our lives are like this. One moment you will be sharing the same house with some stranger agent who is supposed to deliver intel, the next moment they'll be plotting to kill you in their sleep."

Private let out an audible gasp while Rico felt like he wanted to puke C4s.

"Hans… Hans tried to kill you in your sleep?" Kowalski asked warily.

Skipper gave a slow nod. "You just have to let go, you've got to learn not to trust others by their appearance. You've got to keep your distance from others, and instead of letting this incident pull you down, you've got to take it as lesson learnt."

Skipper stood up and went closer to the edge as he watched the sunset. Private went to stand on his left and the other two on his right.

"I… really have got nothing to say to you too… Guess I'm not the one you should look up to. for advice. I've never really overcome the feeling of betrayal when someone betrays me." He wrapped his flippers around Private and Rico, unconsciously pulling them closer to himself.

From below, four figures of different sizes could have been seen huddling in a straight line.

"It just builds up in me, the feelings - betrayal, hurt - sometimes I feel its too much for me to bear… but I know I have to keep on going, to protect you guys from experiencing this much hurt in future."

Kowalski almost teared when he realised how much care his leader had for them (even though Skipper was too scared to admit that directly.)

"I've been betrayed so many times, so much so that if you three stab me in the back…" He paused, choking on his words while looking down at his youngest boy, "For any reason whatsoever, I might not live to overcome the pain caused by that."

The three other penguins finally could relate to the pain their leader had been feeling for the past few years. And let me tell you, it really hurts to be stabbed in the back.

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I can understand and I'm really sorry if you struggled to comprehend this one-shot. Not my best grammar and structure, but eh, who minds. If you enjoyed this/appreciate this one-shot pleaaase review/fav/PM me okies?

Hugs for everyone!

Good night/day to you all wonderful readers out there!


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